Ding'an's "Legal Understands People + Village (Resident) Legal Counsel" adds impetus to grassroots governance

On the morning of April 23, in the Longhe Judicial Office in Ding'an County, two elderly people, Wu Lang (pseudonym) and Wu Bo (pseudonym), sat next to each other. Wu Bo wanted to read reading glasses to see the information, so he raised his hand and took off Wu Lang's glasses and put them on. It's hard to imagine that these two brothers, who are like brothers, have been strangers because of conflicts. Fortunately, Li Shengjin, the "person who understands the law" in the village at that time, intervened in time to help them save their feelings for many years.

"People who understand the law" go to the fields to resolve conflicts and disputes. (Photo courtesy of Ding'an Judicial Bureau)

"People who understand the law" like Li Shengjin, "one person per village" in Ding'an, they help villagers deal with contradictions and disputes in accordance with the law, like sowing "seeds of the rule of law" planted at the doorsteps of villagers, building a bridge between villagers and the judicial department, so that the rule of law concept of "handling matters in accordance with the law, finding the law when encountering problems, solving problems and using the law, and resolving conflicts by relying on the law" can take root at the grassroots level.

Years of neighbors "stiff"

"People who understand the law" stepped in to solve the problem

Things have to start after the Spring Festival this year.

Wu Lang and Wu Bo, villagers of Yatang Village, Longhe Town, have been neighbors since their ancestors, and the relationship between the two families has always been very harmonious.

It turned out that after the Spring Festival this year, the price of betel nut rose, and Wu Bo saw the business opportunity and immediately decided to plant betel nut in the open space at home.

"I didn't expect that as soon as I planted 5 betel nuts, Wu Lang came to the door and said that I occupied his land." In Wu Bo's view, Wu Lang was purely "red-eyed" at that time, and he seized the business opportunity.

"My ancestors' land has been next to Wu Bo's family for several generations, and the place where he planted betel nuts used to belong to our family." Wu Lang thought that Wu Bo's move was unreasonable. In this way, the festivity and harmony of the New Year were broken, and the two families started the "quarrel mode".

Seeing that they were at an impasse, they all thought of asking Li Shengjin, secretary of the party branch and director of the village committee of Yatang Village, to help deal with it. "He knows what the law says." "We can trust him." Wu Lang and Wu Bo agreed.

Li Shengjin patiently persuaded the two and coordinated with the staff of the judicial office many times. After more than two months of mediation, the two parties finally reached a settlement, so there was a harmonious scene at the beginning, and the two families got back to the old good.

Promoting "Legal Literacy+"

Work together to hold up the trust of the "rule of law" at the grassroots level

As one of the first batch of "people who understand the law" in Ding'an, Li Shengjin has rich experience in mediating conflicts and disputes. In the eyes of the villagers, he is fair and just, so the success rate of mediation is high.

"If there is a problem, we can just find him, and the judicial channels and processes are all led by him to figure it out." Wu Bo trusts Li Shengjin very much.

This trust from the villagers made Li Shengjin feel pressured and motivated.

"The judicial department often organizes training for us, and we also have village (resident) legal counsel to guide us in our daily work." In Li Shengjin's view, the reason why he can hold up the trust of the villagers is that in addition to his own continuous learning and improvement, he has more confidence from the cooperation with the village (resident) legal counsel.

"One of us has a mass base, prestige in the village, and the other has professional knowledge, and legal consulting services can be fully supported online and offline." Li Yaqi, the person in charge of the Longhe Judicial Office, analyzed and introduced that the model of "legal understanding person + village (resident) legal counsel" like Li Shengjin has become more and more prominent in Ding'an in recent years.

At the end of last year, in light of the local situation, the Ding'an County Bureau of Justice used quantitative assessment indicators to guide and improve the subjective initiative of village (resident) legal advisers to provide legal services at the grassroots level.

The bureau takes the "Measures for the Quarterly Assessment of Village (Resident) Legal Counsel in Ding'an County" as the starting point, and includes the training of "people who understand the law" into the quantitative assessment of village (resident) legal counsel, so that lawyers can take the initiative to take the initiative to adopt the learning method of "passing on help and leading" to pass on knowledge, help grow, and bring out the team, and increase the legal knowledge reserve of "people who understand the law" by carrying out centralized lectures.

"Now that everyone has gone into the village to provide legal services, the quality has also been improved, and we have helped 'people who understand the law' to master and apply relevant laws and regulations in the on-site practice of specific conflict and dispute mediation." Zhu Yanchun, the legal counsel of the village (resident), was deeply touched. She introduced that the village (resident) legal counsel and the "people who understand the law" mediate conflicts and disputes together, analyze the problems from the perspective of law, let the "people who understand the law" establish the rule of law thinking, use legal methods to solve problems, and enhance the confidence and confidence to do a good job in various tasks.

Provide legal assistance to villagers in a timely manner

Inject the momentum of the rule of law into rural revitalization

Chen Mingchang, the relevant person in charge of the Ding'an Judicial Bureau, said that the introduction of the quantitative assessment system of "remuneration by points" has indeed brought significant changes.

"The assessment system has improved the quality and effectiveness of village (resident) legal counsel going deep into the countryside and going to the villagers to give full play to the quality and effectiveness of law popularization and conflict prevention and mediation in many aspects." Chen Mingchang introduced that according to the assessment regulations, the service data is directly linked to the subsidy, and the more legal services provided by the village (resident) legal counsel, the higher the corresponding assessment score, and the more subsidies received. The assessment is mainly based on the quantitative scoring of the work files uploaded by the village (resident) legal counsel to the Hainan Smart Village Legal Service Platform, and at the same time combines the opinions of the cadres and villagers of the "two committees" of the service village (resident). "Under the guidance of village (resident) legal counsel, the problem of panic in the skills of 'people who understand the law' and the lack of legal knowledge and professional skills are gradually improving." Chen Mingchang said.

"In the past, when law popularization cadres carried out 'law into the villages', they often heard rejected words such as 'I don't understand what you said' from the villagers, but now there are 'people who understand the law' who are familiar with the language, which not only solves the dilemma that the masses cannot understand and the cadres cannot understand, but also makes it convenient to collect the problems that the masses are concerned about at any time, and provide legal assistance to the villagers in need in a timely manner." Chen Mingchang introduced.

The dispute over the "six points of land" in Dashan Village, Longmen Town, is "well-known", and the villagers and the villagers do not have land ownership certificates, but they claim that they have a share. Due to years of disputes, the land has become a wasteland. In September 2022, the two parties quarreled again, and Mo Anyan, a "person who understands the law", rushed to the scene in time to mediate, from reasonableness to legality, and the final mediation result was satisfactory to both parties. Today, the Dashan Village Committee has become a demonstration village of "seven points in one" for grassroots party building, beautiful rural construction, human settlements improvement, no illegal construction, no land exposure, no soil method to smoke betel nut, and no drug abuse and fighting. In November 2022, Dashan Village was named a "National Democratic Rule of Law Demonstration Village" by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

"People who understand the law" understand not only the law, but also the village conditions, public opinions, folk customs, and folk customs. In the eyes of the villagers, they are "caring people", "do things clearly", "reliable and trustworthy". It is understood that after nearly two years of vigorous advancement, Ding'an County's "people who understand the law" are based in the countryside, rooted in the countryside, and serve the countryside, actively participate in the practice of the rule of law, demonstrate and take the lead in learning and using the law, and guide the masses to do things in accordance with the law, find the law in case of trouble, solve problems and use the law, and resolve conflicts by relying on the law, which plays a positive role in promoting the construction of grassroots democracy and rule of law in the county and maintaining social harmony and stability, providing a solid foundation for the construction of rural rule of law, and injecting legal momentum into rural revitalization. (Reporter Tian Chunyu, Shu Yaojian)

Editor-in-charge: Huang Youxuan